Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MarketAxess were worth $344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MKTX. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in MarketAxess during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,966,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 207.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 9,539 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in MarketAxess by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513 shares during the period. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its stake in MarketAxess by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 164,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares during the period. 99.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $258.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Stock Down 1.1 %

MKTX opened at $261.02 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $273.32 and a 200 day moving average of $238.51. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.42 and a 52-week high of $297.97. The stock has a market cap of $9.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a PEG ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.05.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The business had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $207.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MarketAxess Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s dividend payout ratio is 40.11%.

MarketAxess declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.75, for a total value of $5,435,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 592,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,883,880.75. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.